BILL NUMBER: AB 1975	CHAPTERED  09/08/00

	CHAPTER   356
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 8, 2000
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   SEPTEMBER 7, 2000
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 24, 2000
	PASSED THE SENATE   AUGUST 22, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   AUGUST 18, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JUNE 19, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   APRIL 12, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MARCH 23, 2000

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Romero and Lowenthal
   (Coauthors:  Assembly Members Alquist, Aroner, Calderon, Cedillo,
Correa, Hertzberg, Keeley, Knox, Longville, Nakano, Reyes, Shelley,
Steinberg, Strom-Martin, Vincent, and Washington)
   (Coauthor:  Senator Solis)

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2000

   An act to amend Section 1277 of the Health and Safety Code, and to
amend Section 5068.5 of the Penal Code, relating to professional
licensure requirements, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take
effect immediately.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1975, Romero.  Professional personnel:  psychologists:  waiver
of licensure.
   Existing law requires that the licensure requirements for
professional personnel, including psychologists, clinical social
workers, and marriage and family therapists, among others, in state
and other governmental health facilities, be not less than for those
in privately owned health facilities.  The State Department of Health
Services is authorized to grant a waiver from licensure requirements
for persons employed in publicly operated health facilities who are
gaining qualifying experience for licensure.  The waiver cannot
exceed 2 years from the commencement of employment in the state in
the case of psychologists or 4 years for marriage and family
therapists or clinical social workers, with one additional year to be
granted under extenuating circumstances, as specified.
   This bill would extend the durational limit of the department's
waiver of licensure requirements to 3 years for psychologists and
would delete the authority to extend the waiver of licensure for
psychologists for one additional year.
   This bill would conform the requirements for licensed
professionals providing services in the state correctional system to
those applicable to professional personnel in other state and
governmental health facilities, as specified.
   This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 1277 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
   1277.  (a) No license shall be issued by the state department
unless it finds that the premises, the management, the bylaws, rules
and regulations, the equipment, the staffing, both professional and
nonprofessional, and the standards of care and services are adequate
and appropriate, and that the health facility is operated in the
manner required by this chapter and by the rules and regulations
adopted hereunder.
   (b) Notwithstanding any provision of Part 2 (commencing with
Section 5600) of Division 5 of, or Division 7 (commencing with
Section 7100) of, the Welfare and Institutions Code or any other law
to the contrary, except Sections 2072 and 2073 of the Business and
Professions Code, the licensure requirements for professional
personnel, including, but not limited to, physicians and surgeons,
dentists, podiatrists, psychologists, marriage and family therapists,
pharmacists, registered nurses, and clinical social workers in the
state and other governmental health facilities licensed by the state
department shall not be less than for those professional personnel in
health facilities under private ownership. Persons employed as
psychologists and clinical social workers, while continuing in their
employment in the same class as of January 1, 1979, in the same state
or other governmental health facility licensed by the state
department, including those persons on authorized leave, but not
including intermittent personnel, shall be exempt from the
requirements of this subdivision.  Additionally, the requirements of
this subdivision may be waived by the state department solely for
persons in the professions of psychology, marriage and family therapy
or clinical social work who are gaining qualifying experience for
licensure in such profession in this state.  A waiver granted
pursuant to this subdivision shall not exceed three years from the
date the employment commences in this state in the case of
psychologists, or four years from commencement of the employment in
this state in the case of marriage and family therapists and clinical
social workers, at which time licensure shall have been obtained or
the employment shall be terminated except that an extension of a
waiver of licensure for marriage and family therapists and clinical
social workers may be granted for one additional year, based on
extenuating circumstances determined by the department pursuant to
subdivision (e).  For persons employed as psychologists, clinical
social workers, or marriage and family therapists less than full
time, an extension of a waiver of licensure may be granted for
additional years proportional to the extent of part-time employment,
as long as the person is employed without interruption in service,
but in no case shall the waiver of licensure exceed six years in the
case of clinical social workers and marriage and family therapists or
five years in the case of psychologists.  However, this durational
limitation upon waivers shall not apply to active candidates for a
doctoral degree in social work, social welfare, or social science,
who are enrolled at an accredited university, college, or
professional school, but these limitations shall apply following
completion of this training.  Additionally, this durational
limitation upon waivers shall not apply to active candidates for a
doctoral degree in marriage and family therapy who are enrolled at a
school, college, or university, specified in subdivision (a) of
Section 4980.40 of the Business and Professions Code, but the
limitations shall apply following completion of the training.  A
waiver pursuant to this subdivision shall be granted only to the
extent necessary to qualify for licensure, except that personnel
recruited for employment from outside this state and whose experience
is sufficient to gain admission to a licensing examination shall
nevertheless have one year from the date of their employment in
California to become licensed, at which time licensure shall have
been obtained or the employment shall be terminated, provided that
the employee shall take the licensure examination at the earliest
possible date after the date of his or her employment, and if the
employee does not pass the examination at that time, he or she shall
have a second opportunity to pass the next possible examination,
subject to the one-year limit for marriage and family therapists and
clinical social workers, and subject to a two-year limit for
psychologists.
   (c) A special permit shall be issued by the state department when
it finds that the staff, both professional and nonprofessional, and
the standards of care and services are adequate and appropriate, and
that the special services unit is operated in the manner required in
this chapter and by the rules and regulations adopted hereunder.
   (d) The state department shall apply the same standards to state
and other governmental health facilities that it licenses as it
applies to health facilities in private ownership, including
standards specifying the level of training and supervision of all
unlicensed practitioners.  Except for psychologists, the department
may grant an extension of a waiver of licensure for personnel
recruited from outside this state for one additional year, based upon
extenuating circumstances as determined by the department pursuant
to subdivision (e).
   (e) The department shall grant a request for an extension of a
waiver based on extenuating circumstances, pursuant to subdivisions
(b) and (d), if any of the following circumstances exist:
   (1) The person requesting the extension has experienced a recent
catastrophic event which may impair the person's ability to qualify
for and pass the license examination.  Those events may include, but
are not limited to, significant hardship caused by a natural
disaster, serious and prolonged illness of the person, serious and
prolonged illness or death of a child, spouse, or parent, or other
stressful circumstances.
   (2) The person requesting the extension has difficulty speaking or
writing the English language, or other cultural and ethnic factors
exist which substantially impair the person's ability to qualify for
and pass the license examination.
   (3) The person requesting the extension has experienced other
personal hardship which the department, in its discretion, determines
to warrant the extension.
  SEC. 2.  Section 5068.5 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
   5068.5.  (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, except as
provided in subdivision (b), any person employed or under contract
to provide diagnostic, treatment, or other mental health services in
the state or to supervise or provide consultation on these services
in the state correctional system shall be a physician and surgeon, a
psychologist, or other health professional, licensed to practice in
this state.
   (b) Notwithstanding Section 5068 or Section 704 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code, the following persons are exempt from the
requirements of subdivision (a), so long as they continue in
employment in the same class and in the same department:
   (1) Persons employed on January 1, 1985, as psychologists to
provide diagnostic or treatment services including those persons on
authorized leave but not including intermittent personnel.
   (2) Persons employed on January 1, 1989, to supervise or provide
consultation on the diagnostic or treatment services including
persons on authorized leave but not including intermittent personnel.

   (c) The requirements of subdivision (a) may be waived in order for
a person to gain qualifying experience for licensure as a
psychologist or clinical social worker in this state in accordance
with Section 1277 of the Health and Safety Code.
  SEC. 3.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect.  The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to prevent the termination of employment of psychologists
who are currently employed by the Department of Corrections under a
two-year licensure waiver, it is necessary that this act take effect
immediately.
